What do You Do When You Are Broke And The Earth Needs You?

It was around the time of the Solstice and I had various signs and synchronizations that I HAD to be on the island of the sun, known to the ancient natives that still run the Island as the Birth Place of the Sun.

This tribe is definitely a left behind collective of old Native American Consciousness and has Lumerian symbolic and methodology throughout their shamanic practices.

Even more so, there are fossilized 'human" bone that make up important structure in the temple. The pelvic bone of a woman is used as a shadow maker in one of the temples. As the suns rays get blocked by this structure at different times of the day and parts of the year the shadows make animal shapes on an alter table.

They are very sophisticated human healing technology as well as training grounds to plug into like a socket or outlet and charge yourself up with energy. The Technology is intense.

So What is With The Bone?

It was two days before the solstice and I was pretty, knowing I would need the money I had for when I got back and would start doing more paying work. I knew I would make money when I came back, I was coming out of a long service cycle connected with the birth of my daughter so it was good.

About that, I as well had yet to find a person to watch my daughter for me. But I had no tension, I knew it was all going to come together. And it did...

At the last minute my friend Marisol, who runs a massage center, got her English classes canceled and agreed to watch the baby. My other friend Selva had two tickets to Bolivia and was using her second with her boy friend who at the last minute couldn't go... so there I was, with all logic saying I should be working for money for my baby getting on a bus with less than $80 on my way to Bolivia. I might add for an American the Visa to enter Bolivia is $155 so my net value was like 1/2th the cost of the visa. I wasn't worried, my shamanic abilities had gotten me through much more difficult situations when the Earth was calling on me.

The first pass through the border went pretty well but for some reason the tickets got messed up. You have to travel from Cuzco to Puno and then in Puno you get on a new Bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. When we got to Puno for some reason I was put on a different bus than my friend Selva. I was like... "Okay"

So we went out to watch the sunrise over the magnificent Lake Titicaca before splitting up, sure to meet again once in Copacabana. We watched as the sun rose over the great expanse of the largest lake at the highest altitude in the world and I left Selva to Meditate on her own as my bus was scheduled to leave before her own.

The Bus to Bolivia was a completely different story than the bus to Puno... I went from being the only "foreigner" to looking like I might actually be the only Peruvian. This left me feeling a lot better about my chances of border crossing without any problems... I dressed in clothes I thought wouldn't stand out in to little or two big a way, jeans and a black jacket. I really needed to make this trip happen.

I actually had a third motive for making the trip, my visa for Peru had expired a few weeks before and I was thus illegal. Each day past your visa counts as $1 USD you have to pay when you leave the country. I was about 12 days over and again my total cash was about twenty bucks.

When I got to the Peruvian Side of the border I managed to work the situation, Shaman Style. There was a clearly tourist girl in the line a couple of people ahead of me. She didn't speak Spanish but she was having problems due to her thinking her visa was 90 days... but it was actually only 30. She therefore owed about $45 dollars to leave the country.

Since she wasn't speaking and the border patrol officials weren't speaking any English I took advantage of the situation to not only get ahead quite a few people in line but also make myself look like a good Samaritan in front of the border control.

The tactic worked Quite Well.

I succeeded in making the agents feel like they had done a good job in getting their country money by explaining to the girl where she had to go to pay the $45 and what they were actually talking about. The whole situation, with me translating took about 15 minutes and after I just made myself next in line... the agent hardly even looked at my passport as he stamped it, officially signing me out of the country. The first phase, avoiding paying the $12 of my $20 of late visa fees was successfully avoided.

We were then all advised to walk across the border and do what we had to do on the Bolivian side of immigrations... and then we would be let back on the bus. I have learned, through experience, that the best way to break law is to casually break the law in front of the law men like you were doing nothing wrong.

So once on the Bolivian side I followed the masses towards the control check point, veered off to the money exchange spot, exchanged some money and then linked back in with the first people leaving the check point after getting their papers stamped. I then hung out talking with two people, sitting right in front of the Bolivian Military Border Police Headquarters. Casually talking about the Island of the sun and how lucky the people were to be heading towards there for the solstice.

Soon enough of our bus had gone through customs that they opened the doors to let people back in. I made another loop around the vicinity to buy some crackers and got back on the bus. 15 minutes later we were heading off to Copacabana.

Once in Copacabana I was looking for my friend without success. I still had my $20 so I bought the $5 ticket to the island of the sun and about $5 of food. I knew I would be there two or three days and would then have to get a bus ticket back so I was doing it all based on pure faith.

FAITH IS POWERFUL.

On the hour boat ride to the island I managed to talk up a group of 4 people who were meeting the island for the first time themselves about the solstice and the importance of the work that needed to be done with it and how they could get involved if they wanted. I gave them enough information for them to rightfully be very excited about the timing the just managed to be going to The Island of the Sun. Two of them didn't even know it was the Solstice and none of them knew it was used by the Inca and Pre-Inca Empire for very important Solstice ceremonies.

I ended up hanging with them the first day, checking out a small portion of the island and graciously accepting their invitation to food and drink. During this time I had seen my friend Selva on the Island and she had gotten a cheap room at a hostel with an amazing view... well basically the entire island was an amazing view... but this one faced the rising sun so it seemed fit for the winter solstice, the birth of the new sun and new year in the birth place of the sun.

She paid for her room and the guy put my bag in a cheaper room under hers. We then went and decided to relax for the afternoon. It was the day before the solstice and I knew I would be up at 4 am the latest the next day so I was cool for relaxing.

As we were heading back to the hostel I saw the group of four I had been talking with on the boat. I decided to join them for diner, hey they invited me. Selva said she was tired and wanted to head back to the Hostel.

Diner turned into a few drinks and about 2 hours waiting for the food. By the time we had finished eating and talking it was well past midnight. On an island of such small population and tourism based around the ruins and spirituality... Everything was shut down.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do so I headed back to the Hostel Selva was at. The place was completely black but my room was open and my bags still there. No one seemed around and though I hadn't paid yet, I needed a place to sleep. I immediately feel into a deep sleep.

At probably quarter to four in the morning I woke up sharply. I had heard there was a temple of the sun on the south eastern side of the island and though I had not found it the day before, which would have been smart, I went out with a determination to begin the New Fire Ceremony for right before Sunrise in this Temple. Unfortunately I was mal informed and the Temple of the sun was actually on the completely other end of the Island but it made for some interesting events.

I found myself again, jumping 6 foot ledges in the dark, climbing walls to unknown property trying to find where I had thought I was told this temple was located. I continued for an hour and a half without any luck and the best place I found that most resembled a temple was actually someone's house. As I knew Sunrise was approaching I decided to just head down to the beach and get myself on the most eastern part of the island to do the fire... as I knew it had to be done with the rising sun.

Getting there I ended up finding an amazing cave which 'coincidentally' was basically directly below the mountain top where the natives did there fire ceremony to the rising solstice sun. I found this out later when I met with the four people who had listened to my wisdom on the boat and my advice about how they should do a fire ceremony for the rising solstice sun.

They had gone to the mountain top where I had showed them and linked up with a group of natives performing their ceremony and had a great time. As my purpose is to actually destroy all old methods of doing things to make space for new consciousness to enter our global collective I was being guided to avoid all the native ceremonies with all the works I was doing. I wasn't specifically intending it but I was following my heart intuition and like always with intuition... you understand the meaning and logic behind it afterward.

After I finished my fire ceremony I managed to climb up the mountain and end up right in the backyard of the Hostel I stayed at. No one seemed around so I quietly made my bed, gathered my things and left. I didn't feel too bad about not paying as I was there solely for the purpose of doing direct work for the Great Earth Mother.

In the Next addition I'll out line how to perform works for the earth to give her back energy that we as humans have been taking for too long and too much without the proper giving to match the taking.

aikdo tomato planter

Beautiful city of Barcelona, capital of Catalonia (a Spain's province), is situated on on the shore of the Mediterranean sea and bordered at either end by 2 river deltas. Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after its capital city Madrid. Barcelona has a population of 1.5 million, over 4 million including suburbs. The varied, eventful history of the city dates back 4,000 years to the first settlements by ancient farmers. Later it became a Roman colony, the Visigoth's capital city, then it came under Moorish rule. It went through sieges, destructions and occupations, finally to become an autonomous democracy 1975. The city has always played an important role in political and cultural life of Spain and it is well reflected in the variety and quality of historical buildings, museums, many other tourist attractions. Today Barcelona is one of the most diverse european cities with unique culture and rich traditions. You can find here a formidable balance of the traditional things and the avant-garde. A cosmopolitan metropolis, Barcelona affords visitors a warm and sincere welcome, being aknowledged worldwide as one of the best tourist-friendly cities in Europe.Barcelona's organisation of the 1992 Olympics provided regeneration of this dynamic city, gave a fresh start to its infrastructure development.

WHAT TO SEE AND WHERE:

POINTS OF INTEREST - La Rambla is a tree-lined pedestrian boulevard packed with buskers, living statues, mimes and itinerant salespeople selling everything from lottery tickets to jewellery. Pavement cafes and stands selling craftwork, street performers surrounded by curious onlookers, a noisy bird market, Palau de la Virreina, a grand 18th-century rococo mansion, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the famous 19th-century opera house- these are all colourful parts of La Rambla's mosaic. La Rambla ends at the lofty Monument a Colom (Monument to Columbus) and the harbour.

Barri Gotic - also known as Gothic Quarter, it is the old part of the city. Picasso lived and worked in Barri Gotic from 1895 to 1904 and Joan Miro was born and lived here during his youth. Gothic Quarter is situated on the right hand side of the La Rambla, it contains a concentration of medieval tall Gothic buildings (14-15th century) on narrow cobbled streets and now is home to much of the city's nightlife.

La Sagrada Familia - La Sagrada Familia is one of the most famous and magnificent among Barcelona's landmarks. The life's work of Barcelona's famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, the magnificent spires of the unfinished cathedral imprint themselves boldly against the sky with swelling outlines inspired by the holy mountain Montserrat. Above each facade there are four towers, 12 in total, which are dedicated to the Apostles. The tower in the center, the tallest of all at 170 m., is dedicated to Jesus Christ. Around these there are the towers of the four Evangelists, and the tower over the apse is dedicated to the Virgin. They are encrusted with a tangle of sculptures that seem to breathe life into the stone. Gaudi died in 1926 before his masterwork was completed, and since then, controversy has continually dogged the building program. Nevertheless, the southwestern (Passion) facade, is almost done, and the nave, begun in 1978, is progressing.

La Pedrera - Casa Mila (Mila House) is an apartment building, the last example of Gaudi's civil architecture.It is one of his finest and most ambitious creations, extraordinarily innovative in its functional, constructive, and ornamental aspects. Visitors can tour the building and go up to the roof, where they can see spectacular views of Barcelona. One floor below the roof is a modest museum dedicated to Gaudi's work.
Montjuic - the largest open space in the city, its main attractions are the Olympic installations, the Spanish Village and the hilltop fortress. Montjuic, the hill overlooking the city centre from the southwest, is home to some fine art galleries, leisure attractions, soothing parks and the main group of 1992 Olympic sites. Montjuic is covered in ornamental gardens with water features and is the most popular destination in Barcelona on Sundays.

Tibidabo - is the highest hill in the wooded range that forms the backdrop to Barcelona. It has amazing views of the whole of Barcelona, a stunning cathedral, and a family fun park Parc d'Atraccions with old-style rides offering breathtaking views. A glass lift at the park goes 115m (383 ft) up to a visitors' observation area at Torre de Collserola telecommunications tower.

Modernisme - spectacular modernista architectural creations dotted around the city by famous Antoni Gaudi and his contemporaries.

Camp Nou - home of F.C. Barcelona, one of Europe's leading soccer teams, with capacity of almost 100,000 spectators.

The Seu Cathedral - Built in medieval times on the site of a Roman temple, La Seu is one of the great Gothic buildings in Spain.

Parc de la Ciutadella - Barcelona's favourite park and a Sunday afternoon rendezvous for families, friends and ducks

The Sardana - traditional Catalan dance, performed outside the cathedral and at national festivals, with everyone encouraged to join in.

MUSEUMS - The Barbier-Mueller Museum of Pre-Columbian Art -the only museum in Europe devoted exclusively to Pre-Columbian cultures. Housed in a gothic palace, its collection is one of the finest of its kind and gives visitors an insight into the rich world of the earliest cultures on the American continent. This tiny museum contains one hundred pieces, including wood and stone sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, jade, often found in international exhibitions and prestige publications. The exhibits represented the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Chavin, Mochica and Inca civilisations.

Palau de la Musica Catalana - one of the world's most extraordinary music halls, it is a Barcelona landmark. From its polychrome ceramic ticket windows on the Carrer de Sant Pere Mes Alt side to its overhead busts of Palestrina, Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner, the Palau is the flagship of Barcelona's Moderniste architecture.

Museu Picasso - is Barcelona's most visited museum. 3,500 exhibits make up the permanent collection. Picasso spent several years (1901-06) in Barcelona, and this collection, is particularly strong on his early work. Displays include childhood sketches, pictures from the beautiful Rose and Blue periods, and the famous 1950s Cubist variations on Velazquez's Las Meninas (Ladies-in-Waiting).

Gaudi Casa-Museu - Gaudi lived in this pink, Alice-in-Wonderland house from 1906 to 1926, which now houses a museum of Gaudi-designed furniture, decorations, drawings, and portraits and busts of the architect.
Fundacio Miro - it was a gift from the famous artist Joan Miro to his native city. The museum opened in 1975, and now it is one of Barcelona's most exciting showcases of contemporary art.

BEACHES - One of Barcelona's greatest draws is undeniably its beautiful beaches. Beside world-famous Costa Brava and Costa Dorada which are within 1-hr drive time from Barcelona, there are also several nice beaches over 4 km long within the city boundaries, we will list just several of them here: Nova Icaria- Closest to the Olympic marina, always crowded, this wide swathe of rough golden sand is great for food goers. There are three perfect beach bars and two very popular restaurants on the promenade (Mango and Chiringuito de Moncho) and countless bars and restaurants are just a short stroll away. Bogatell- This beach is twice the length of adjoining Nova Icaria and fringed by a stretch of stone walkway perfect for jogging, roller blading and cycling. Three large informal restaurants on the promenade. Mar Bella (Metro Ciutadella Vila Olimpica, plus 20-minute walk)- Barcelona's only naturist beach close to a peaceful park - good for a picnic or siesta under the trees. Barceloneta- wide and long, a traditional and popular stretch with locals, crowded, noisy and very jolly.

WHEN TO GO, WEATHER: The best times to visit Barcelona are late spring and early autumn, when the weather is still comfortably warm, around 21-25°C. Summers are usually hot and humid, with temperatures averaging +30 (+ 86 Fahrenheit). Especially avoid the "dead" month of August, when many shops, bars and restaurants close for the month as many local inhabitants head out of the city. Winters are cool with average daytime temperatures around +12 C (+59 Fahrenheit), occasionally rainy.

GETTING THERE AND AROUND: By a direct flight to Barcelona, or through Madrid or via another large European city from almost any major airports in the world. The highest fares are from May to September, the lowest in March-April, October-November and December to February (excluding Christmas and New Year when prices are hiked up). Note also that flying on weekends may increase your ticket cost. If traveling to Barcelona from within Europe you can also chose train, bus or car, though these take much longer than a plane and often work out no cheaper. Many Mediterranean cruises include Barcelona as a port of call.

ACCOMODATIONS: We can offer you a range of choices. You can choose vacation rentals in Barcelona starting from $ 125 USD for a double room in a 4-star apartment hotel. Or you can opt for hotels from $ 65 USD for a double room in a 3-star hotel. Accomodation prices do not change much throughout the year due to the steady all-season flow of visitors to this extremely popular tourist city and surrounding resorts.

DINING: Besides restaurants you can eat at bars where you would have a succession of tapas (small snacks- three or four chunks of fish, meat or vegetables, or salad, which traditionally used to be served up free with a drink) or raciones (larger ones). The bar option can be a lot more interesting, allowing you to do the rounds and sample local specialities. Generally, the average cost for a meal consisting of two dishes and dessert would come to about 25 Euros. Travellers on an extremely limited budget can do well for themselves by using the excellent markets, bakeries and delis and filling up on sandwiches and snacks. Decent restaurants and cafes are easily found all over the city, though you'll probably do most of your eating where you do most of your sightseeing, in the old town, particularly around La Rambla and in the Barri Gotic. Look for the best and most authentic seafood restaurants in Barceloneta, a seaside neighbourhood. Gothic Quarter neighbourhood is home to some of the oldest and most traditional restaurants in the city. Gracia is a very popular area among young people during the weekend, it leads the way in terms of exotic restaurants (Lebanese, Egyptian, Thai etc.).

TRANSPORT: Barcelona has excellent transport system comprising the metro (subway), buses, trains and a network of funiculars and cable cars. You can find a link to transport maps at the end of our guide. On all the city's public transport you can buy a single ticket every time you ride, but even over only a couple of days it's cheaper to buy a targeta - a discount ticket strip. The T-10 targeta is valid for ten separate journeys on the metro, buses and trains. These tickets can be used by more than one person at a time. The metro is the quickest way of getting around Barcelona. For black-and-yellow taxis there is a minimum charge of $ 2 euro. You'll obviously have a great deal more freedom if you rent a car . Major roads throughout the city are generally good, and traffic is generally well behaved, though Spain does have one of the highest incidences of traffic accidents in Europe. It also has some of the lowest fuel prices on the continent.

SHOPPING: Barcelona, one of the most stylish cities in Europe offers great shopping, from designer clothes and accessories to household items. You will find the city to be quite cheap for a lot of items, especially if you coincide with the annual sales ( rebaixes in Spanish) lasting from mid-January until the end of February, and throughout July and August. The best shopping areas in Barcelona are the old streets off the upper part of the Ramblas. Souvenirs include ceramics, which are widely sold in the streets around the cathedral; leather goods; city's delicatessens, particularly cooked Catalan meats and sausages; a porron (the long-spouted glass drinking jar); CDs and tapes of Catalan rock and pop, sardana music, Spanish rock or flamenco. If you're looking for original gift ideas, some of the best hunting can be found in the shops of any of the city's museums, where you'll find reasonably priced and unique examples of Catalan disseny (graphic), and other original items ranging from postcards to replica works of art.

We wish you a nice and safe trip!

lesbian jewelry

I have driven from Arequipa to Cotahuasi many times and have been interested in some of the side roads that we pass. One of them has a sign that says it goes to Cabanaconde, on the rim of the Colca Canyon. Another one goes in the direction of Colca Canyon around the backside of Nevado Coropuna. I have always wondered if it is possible to drive directly to Colca Canyon from Cotahuasi, where I live, rather than going all the way around through Arequipa, which is the normal way. I have a map that shows a road there, but it also shows roads in my area that I know do not exist.

I had been told that this road doesn't exist either, but then a friend of mine, Marcio, who is a guide here, said there really is a road there. Now that I have my 4x4 van, we, along with Frank, who is doing research to update his Peru Travel Guidebook, decided to check it out and see if we could drive all the way to Chivay, at the entrance to Colca Canyon. We started in Arequipa on Friday morning, and on the way to Cotahuasi, we stopped at the Majes River Lodge, which is just a few minutes off the main road. They have a number of bungalows, a pool, outdoor eating areas, and very interestingly, a parking area that is in an old bull-fighting ring. Julio, the owner, is a major promoter of tourism in the area, and he took us to see a hillside that was covered with pre-Inca graves. Vandals and erosion have uncovered many of them and there are pieces of clothing, straw baskets, and pottery, as well as bones and even complete skulls laying all over the place. I have seen many gravesites here in Peru but none as extensive as this. Julio said there are thousands of graves, which I didn't believe, until we saw them, they are everywhere. There are also dinosaur bones and petroglyphs but we didn't take time to go see them.

We told Julio of our plans to drive from Cotahuasi to Chivay and asked him if he knew anything about the condition of the road. He mentioned a number of towns on the route, including Andahua, where we wanted to stop, and others I didn't recognize. He said the road is good to Andahua, fair to Orcopampa, and very good from there to Chivay, because there are mines in Orcopampa and they have fixed up the road. We later found out that the Reyna bus line also goes all the way to Orcopampa and the ticket agent confirmed what Julio had said about the roads.

After spending a few days in Cotahuasi, we left at 8:30 am on Tuesday, and arrived at the cutoff to Andahua two hours later. From here we were on a road that was new to us, on the high plain at just over 14,000 feet. I was surprised at the number of houses we saw near the road, which belonged to llama herders. We saw a number of both llamas and herders, walking on paths along the road. We also had a great view of the north side of Coropuna, which I had never seen before. As I looked ahead, I could see some loaded burros, and a few people walking down the road. I assumed it was some of the local herders, however as we got closer to them, it looked like they had large backpacks, like hikers or climbers would use. We could soon see that there were two gringos, a very rare sight in such a remote location. We stopped and talked to them for a few minutes, and found out that they were archeologists, doing some geological studies of Coropuna and the ancient ruins in the area.

After two more hours of driving, passing above 15,400 feet, and taking many more photos of Coropuna and other sights, we arrived at Andahua without any problems. We did have one more surprise though, we picked up a hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere, he was a schoolteacher on his way to Andahua. He teaches in a one-room school and said he has 14 students in grades one through six. He told us a lot about the area, including the fact that there wasn't a gas station in Andahua; the nearest one is in Orcopampa, about an hour and a half away. Fortunately, we have enough fuel to get there, but I still hate driving around on these roads with less than a half of a tank of fuel.

After we reached Andahua, we stopped and looked at best looking hostel, the rooms weren't too bad but the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. Although they do have fresh air, the back is wide open, facing the building next door. No one answered the door at the next hostel, which was still under construction, so we went back to the first one. After checking into the hostel, we decided to go for a hike up one of the volcanic craters outside of the village. We met a young man named Antonio, at the base of the crater, and he joined us on the hike to the summit, which is about 12,000 feet. We found out he used to live here, but now was just visiting from Arequipa. We took many more photos and were about ready to leave when Antonio took out a cell phone and to our surprise told us there was a signal there, as there was a clear line of sight down the valley to Aplao. I needed to make a call to Arequipa about my car, and just happened to have my cell phone in my daypack, so was able to make the call from there. The village does have regular phone service, but no cell phone service. I had some free minutes left on my phone, so was happy to be able to use them before they expire.

Back down in the village, we stopped at the local Internet, which had agonizingly slow satellite service for about 28 cents for 30 minutes. It was really starting to get cold by then as the sun was about to set, the village is at 11,450 feet, and it is fall here. I found a sidewalk vender selling french fries for 56 cents, which with a banana, was my dinner. While I was eating, Marcio went and looked at the other hostel that was now open, and found out that it has a very nice bathroom. At least we know for next time! It's now 7:25 and my hands are getting too cold to type much longer, but I have to quit soon anyway as the outlet in our room doesn't work and my laptop battery is almost dead. Tomorrow we plan on doing some more hiking, maybe to a waterfall, and then in the afternoon we will drive on to Orcopampa.

The restaurant selection isn't too good in Andahua, so we bought some fruit, bread and jam, and ate in our room this morning. It was cold when I got up at 6:30 but the sun rose soon after that and the sunlight coming in the window took the chill off the room. I went next door to the city office, where we had gotten some tourist brochures yesterday, to check on a guide to show us some of the sights. I met the mayor and he said one of his workers would show us around. We drove on a poor winding road, up, down, and around some craters and, then hiked down to see a waterfall. It was a very poor trail and I was thinking that it wouldn't be too popular with the average tourist, but then found out that there is a much better trail on the other side of the river. That is a longer hike, all the way from the village and we didn't have time for that, which is why he took us on the poor trail. The waterfall was nice, and quite interesting, as the water was also coming out of the mountain in various places from an old canal, which was actually a tunnel in the rocks.

The Andahua River cuts through a number of narrow and very deep slot canyons, so deep that we could hardly see the river because it was so dark at the bottom, even though it was a bright sunlit day. We crossed the canyon in one place on what looked like a natural bridge, but when we walked upstream a ways, we could see that there was an old stone bridge underneath the dirt path, which must have been 400 or more feet above the river. Actually it wasn't really dirt; most of the area is covered with fine black volcanic sand, which was very tiring to walk on. We also went to see some pre-Inca ruins, which seem to be everywhere around here.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, we left Andahua for Orcopampa, and were delighted to find out that the road was in quite good condition, in most places better than the road to Cotahuasi. For much of the way, it follows along (and once through) the Andahua River, which was now flowing through a wide flat valley, between two mountain ranges. Orcopampa is a busy mining village, and we had trouble finding a hostel with rooms available. Finally on our fourth try, we found one, supposedly with cable TVs and hot water showers, and even an enclosed garage for my car. The rooms are small and dingy, no reception on the TV, there is no water at all, not even cold, and a couple of miners tried to get the only parking spot from me (they didn't succeed), but we have beds to sleep on, so we are thankful for that.

Last night before I went to bed, I added an extra blanket from the empty bed next to me. I still got a little chilly during the night so took one more blanket and then slept better; except for when the bus honked it's horn long and loud at about 3:00 am! That's when it arrives from Arequipa and then continues on to Orcopampa. Tonight I got my sleeping bag out of the car and am using that, as we are even higher up, about 12,490 feet. We walked around for a bit and found a nice restaurant, where we had dinner. On the way back to the hostel, we passed one of the three Internet signs we had seen when we were looking for a gas station. I almost didn't stop, after the bad experience last night, but when I got close to the sign I saw that it said "Speedy", which is the telephone company's high-speed service here. It wasn't as fast as in Arequipa, but better than the dial-up service I have at home, and a huge improvement over last night.

Tomorrow we go to Chivay and Cabanaconde on the other side of Colca Canyon, and again we have received varying reports of the road's condition, from bad, due to the recent rainy season, to very good, because of the mines. The road today, which passed a mine, was in great shape for the last few kilometers into Orcopampa, so that gives us some hope for tomorrow as well, as there are many more mines along the way.

We had planned on leaving this morning (Thursday) at 7:00, and I was concerned that my car might not start because of the cold. I didn't start it until 10:00 am yesterday, after the temperature had warmed up quite a bit, and it didn't start very quickly, it took a lot of cranking. There was a good layer of ice on the water container outside when I got up at 6:15, but thankfully it did start, again after much cranking. I had planned on going back to Cotahuasi tomorrow, but have decided that I better return to Arequipa and get the cold starting problem checked. By 6:45, we were on the road, which after a climb up to the high plain, remained above 13,000 feet for the next five hours, reaching 14,980 feet at the highest point.

The road started out about the same as yesterday, fair with enough potholes and curves to keep our speed down to 25 to 40 kph most of the time. However once we got up on the high plain, it turned into a good gravel road, which was nice and wide as well. After being able to go 60 to 70 kph for a half hour or so, we came to a fork in the road. The map we have showed a road going straight and one angling off to the left. They both arrived at the same place, but the left fork was quite a bit longer.

The good road continued straight ahead, which we were going to take, but the road sign said that it went to a vicuña reserve, and the left fork went to our destination. Because the maps here are often not correct, we regretfully took the left fork, which was a much poorer road. It meandered all over the place, finally meeting up with a good road again, coming from the direction of the previous junction. Sure enough, when we looked back at the sign on that road, it said "vicuña reserve". Why the previous sign said to go around I don't know, but next time we will know better and go through the reserve on the good road. Less than an hour later, the road turned real bad, full of holes and washboard, and we were back down to 20 to 30 kph again.

A couple of hours later, I could see what looked like road construction in the distance ahead of us. It was, and when we reached there, we had to wait about 10 minutes for three dump trucks to unload and a bulldozer to spread out the gravel. After that, we were able to continue, on a much-improved road. It stayed good all the way to the bottom of Colca Canyon, where we crossed a bridge and continued on our way. However we soon realized that we were going the wrong direction, when Frank looked back at an intersection and saw a sign that said Chivay was the other way. We turned around and headed back, and soon found the correct road back on the other side of the river. There was only a sign for Chivay if you were coming from Arequipa or Cusco, there wasn't one coming from the back way like we did. We noticed this numerous times on our trip, so we got pretty good at looking back at intersections, but this one we missed.

From Orcopampa, we arrived in Chivay in about six hours and 10 minutes, which we were pleased with, considering that from what some people had told us, it could have taken much longer. Twenty minutes later, after taking our first showers since leaving Cotahuasi, we were relaxing and soaking in the popular hot springs just outside of Chivay. It really felt good after three days of dust filled driving, much of it on rough and tiring, high altitude roads. I don't think I am ready to take the trip again soon, but at least now I know that it is possible and I know the correct route.

godiva chocolates

Sitting on top of the world, looking down on creation...

I don't remember the rest of the song and we were over 10,000 feet short of the top of the world but it was a pretty good view anyway. Finally, a dream of about two years was completed. I made it to the top of El Misti, the volcano right outside of Arequipa, Peru, that had been calling my name since I first saw it about two years before. I tried to climb it as a day hike then but failed due to a very late start and not being used to the altitude, reaching only about 15, 500 feet. I still think it can be done as a day hike so that is a future goal.

I had been waiting eagerly for my friends Jason and Lisa, SCARAB (Southern California Adventure Racing Buddies) members from Los Angeles, to get to here. We had been communicating by email for months as they were on a round the world trip and we wanted to get together when they came through Peru. Our schedules kept changing but at the last minute they meshed and we were able to meet a couple of times in Arequipa. I arranged the use of a Suzuki 4x4 and Jason and I made plans to climb El Misti on Saturday and Sunday. Lisa decided to relax in Arequipa so we drafted her to be our chauffeur as it is not safe to leave a vehicle at the trailhead. We did some quick shopping, and after getting lost on the way to the trailhead, we arrived safely and were ready to start hiking at 12:30 pm. We were told that it was a five hour climb to the campsite but we were hoping it would be less because that would have meant arriving at camp about the time it got dark. I also realized that we were on a different trail than the one I had attempted two years before so it was a totally new trail to me (there are three routes up to the summit).

We were well matched, my year of living at 8,800 feet and hiking regularly at altitudes of over 12,000 feet made up for my age and Jason's (relative) youth and three weeks of high altitude hiking in Peru made up for his living at sea level in L.A. We followed an easy trail up to the campsite at about 15,000 feet, arriving there in three hours and 10 minutes. We were glad that we hadn't left earlier and had to just sit around in the cool wind. This also gave us hope that the supposedly five to seven hour hike to the summit should be less than that. We had also been told to expect temps as low as zero degrees so were thankful that it was warmer than normal. Helped by the cloud cover it didn't get below 30 degrees, so we were plenty warm in our 20 degree bags and my cheap Wensel tent.

After we got camp set up, Jason suggested scouting out the trail to the summit, as we planned on leaving about 5:00 in the morning and weren't sure if we could find it in the dark. We easily found the trail and hiked up about 20 minutes to another campsite; the people there said they planned on starting for the summit at about 2:00 am. By the time we got back down to our camp, the wind had died down and it felt warmer, especially after hot chicken noodle soup with tuna, cheese and bread and some tea. I used my soda can stove, which worked fine, after removing the windshield; I guess it needed a bit more air at that elevation too. Our campsite neighbor, a Frenchman suffering from the altitude wasn't looking too good, we found out he didn't attempt the summit. We were still below the clouds so got a great view of Arequipa as the lights came on and the quarter moon illuminated Misti above us. By 7:00 pm we were in our sleeping bags, hoping to get a good night's sleep before the 4:00 am alarm.

Following a breakfast of instant oatmeal, we were on the trail at 4:45 in the morning, climbing by headlights, with very little trouble following the trail. We could see the lights of other climbers, which seemed a long ways above us. Again it was a fairly easy trail, not too much sand (unlike the trail from my previous attempt) and enough large rocks to make it interesting, but also harder to see the trail. By this time I was deeply regretting my forgetting my gloves as I hurriedly packed for the trip but Jason said his hands were warm enough and let me use his - thanks Jason!

About the time it got light, we caught up to two other groups that had started earlier but were climbing very slow. One of the guides asked if one of his team members could follow us up so Steve joined us, again a very good match as we were all climbing at the same slow steady speed, taking very short breaks every so often. We soon lost sight of those below us and never saw them again until we got back down to their camp; unfortunately they had to turn back and were not able to reach the summit. When we were about a half hour away, we could see a large group standing on the summit. They had gone up a shorter route on the backside; we met them later after they had explored the crater. We finally got some sunlight when we reached a saddle between the summit and the crater, which really felt good. We had been climbing up the dark side, away from the sun, which made it very cool but we were also treated to a great view of Misti casting a shadow over miles of landscape when the sun rose on the other side. At 8:55, after crossing a couple of small snow patches and a couple of sandy stretches, we were on the summit at 19,100 feet, four hours and 10 minutes from camp. We marveled at the huge iron cross, about 20 feet high that was up there. It was constructed in sections; each about three feet long. I couldn't have carried even one section up there. We were hoping that it had been helicoptered up so that weren't totally put to shame by the super humans it would have taken to carry all the pieces up there.

After taking a lot of pictures of the almost unreal landscape offered by the crater, black sand, light rocks and snow, and a few more of neighboring 19,925 foot Chachani, we went down to the saddle and ate a light snack. Both of us were feeling good, no altitude problems but to keep it that way we decided to forgo exploring the crater and headed back down. We didn't hire a guide for the climb but were fortunate that Marcio, my guide friend, went with us to the trailhead and pointed out the route up to us. Steve's guide explained the route back down to camp. No need to hike down, just go over to the dark gray sand slope and "ski" down that, lots of fun! We stopped at Steve's camp and left him there with his teammates who were packing up, and then continued on down. We made it down to our camp in about two hours; we would have made it faster except we stopped to take a lot of pictures of our fun descent! After a simple lunch (should have brought another package of soup), which finished all of our food except a little trail mix, we broke camp and headed on down. There was no rush because Lisa wasn't scheduled to meet us until 4:00 pm. We had expected on being at the summit about noon, instead we were back at camp by 11:00 am. After a couple of final photos at the trailhead, we decided to walk down the dirt road, getting almost to the highway before meeting Lisa and Marcio. That gave us plenty of time to talk about our next adventure, after they finish their trip. Of course Chachani is calling our names, there are also two 6,000 meter mountain peaks on the way to Cotahuasi where I live, Coropuna at 21,075 feet and Solimana at 19,985 feet. And then there is my plan for a two week bike ride, all between 9,000 and 16,000 feet.

Looking down on creation...

inca city